This invention is related to a system for measuring velocity/flow of water in a large body of water or in a pipe and more specifically to determine the velocity/flow of water in rivers, bays, and ocean straits.
Previous methods of measuring fluid currents/flows require that a measuring device be placed at a point where such a measurement is desired. The prior art devices are either fixed electro-mechanical meters or neutrally buoyant objects which are allowed to move freely while being tracked from a known position. Another method used in the ocean is to measure the electric field induced across two electrodes when seawater, which acts as a conducting fluid, flows across a magnetic field. The magnitude of the induced electric field is related to the magnitude of a water flow. In all these prior art methods it is required that a measuring device be placed into the fluid at a given point and they yield a measurement at that point only. Furthermore, these methods are subject to calibration difficulties due to interference by seaweed, marine growths, corrosion and polarization of electrodes.